496 PLOVER TRIBE. 
Cleft-Footed Under this general title may be grouped a considerable assem- 
Sandpipers. ]jl a g e of small wading birds, of which the knot ( Tringa canutus), the 
dunlin (T. alpina), the broad-billed sandpiper (T. platyrhyncha), the little stint 
( Tminuta), and the sanderling ( Calidris arenaria), are familiar British examples; 
the last-named forming a genus by itself on account of the absence of the first toe, 
which is present in the remainder. These birds differ from the turnstones in that 
the nostrils are situated in the basal fourth of the beak, and in the metatarsus 
being covered with scutes both in front and behind. The beak, which is narrow, 
slightly compressed, and rugose towards the tip, where it may be slightly bent 
down, is always shorter than the combined length of the metatarsus and third toe; 
the first primary quill of the wing largely exceeds the fourth in length; and the tail 
is uniformly coloured. In addition 
to the sanderling, the group com¬ 
prises thirteen species, with certain 
local varieties, and is confined in 
latitudes of the Northern Hemi¬ 
sphere, although in winter becoming 
cosmopolitan. Of the numerous 
species visiting the British Islands, 
only the dunlin breeds there, and 
that but sparingly. Among these 
the curlew-sandpiper ( Tarcuata), 
demands notice on account of its 
curved beak; while still more 
remarkable is the broadly expanded 
tip of the beak of the spoon-billed 
sandpiper (T. pygmcea), a species 
probably breeding to the northward of Behring Strait, and separated by many 
writers, as Eurhinorhynchus. The sanderling ( Calidris arenaria), easily recog¬ 
nised by the absence of the first toe, the black legs, and broad beak, breeds near 
the coasts of many portions of the Arctic Ocean, although not on the Norwegian 
and Russian portions, and has been taken as far south as Java. 
Three sandpipers from the Southern Hemisphere, two of which inhabit the 
Australian region and the other South America, differ from the preceding in the 
slight inequality in the length of the first four primary quills of the wing, and 
are thus assigned to a distinct genus, Phegornis. 
^ ^ The beautiful birds commonly termed painted snipe, of which 
there are three species inhabiting the warmer regions of both 
hemispheres, are distinguished from the members of the subfamily yet noticed by 
the difference in length between the shortest and longest primary quill being much 
less—instead of much more—than the length of the beak. They resemble the 
preceding forms, however, in that the length of the beak is much less than twice 
that of the metatarsus, and in the possession of a pale median line on the crown of 
the head, and two light stripes down the back, they are like the true snipe. The 
foot is four-toed, and a considerable portion of the tibia is bare. 
the breeding-season to the higher 
KNOT SANDPIPER. 
